Watch Home, An Intimate FADER Film About Låpsley

In the north of England, the singer-songwriter opens up about her school reports, discovering GarageBand, and overcoming depression.

On its release in March 2016, Låpsley’s choice to title her debut album Long Way Home might have seemed incongruous. She was, after all, only 19, and had just a year before made the first move away from her home in the industrial north of England, in pursuit of a music career and a new life in London. But in this new documentary short Home — produced by The FADER with YouTube Music — she reveals how her mom and dad’s house in Stockport shaped her into the musician she is today, and why she eventually felt the pull to return to it.

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Watching this film is a little like being taken home to a friend or partner’s house to meet their parents for the first time, and learning small things about them that complete a jigsaw puzzle. We see Låpsley (real name Holly Fletcher) read through her old school reports, flick through candid Photo Booth videos, and perform her oldest songs at her oldest piano. We hear about her academic drive as a child, then her discovery of GarageBand (“I didn’t know what a producer was,” she remembers), followed by her absorption into the music business at 17. “It was almost like she’d been ripped out of my life,” says Låpsley’s mom.

As it turned out, the move to London was not the best one. Låpsley walks the blustery beach of her hometown as she talks frankly about going through depression while living in the capital. “The extreme highs and lows of this job,” she reflects, “they’re not good for your ego, they’re not good for your mental health.” The early music she created in her parents’ house took her into another world, only for her to realize she wanted to be back home all along.